Bill Will Undo Food Requirement at Bars

A bill would make it lawful for bars to operate without having to serve any food. Photo by Jason Yung/Flickr

Bars in Tennessee might soon be able to be just bars. A bill with wide support would remove a requirement that bars sell some amount of food.

If you ever wondered why your favorite bar sells snacks, it might be because they’re trying to be in compliance with an old law.

Under the rule, 15 percent of bar sales have to come from food. If a bar’s pretzels and peanuts don’t total that, they can be issued a fine.

Rep. Mike Turner says it’s making bar owners over-report food sales.

We’re actually forcing bar owners to skirt the law just to be in compliance.

Turner, a Nashville Democrat, is the sponsor of a bill that will strike the food requirement.

If you’re down here on Broadway, at one of the tourist places here in Nashville, as a bar owner,  you don’t have to act like you have a hot dog machine in the back room.

State alcohol regulators say that they’d rather be enforcing under-age drinking violations.

The bill is expected a vote in both chambers on Monday.

But They Are Still Restaurants

A 1960s Tennessee law allows liquor licenses only to be issued to restaurants. The law has been watered down over the years, and even if the food requirement is done away with, bars in Tennessee are still technically considered restaurants.